A randomized controlled trial is being conducted at the Comprehensive Health Care Center in the South Bronx to determine the relative effectiveness, in providing care to children of poor families, of care to children only (C-care) and of care to children and their parents (F-care) in the same setting. Two groups of patients (205 families with 419 children for C-care, 207 families with 430 children for F-care were randomly selected and have been demonstrated to be well- matched for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Families in both groups are being followed for (1) utilization rates, compliance, and other measures of process; (2) effectiveness of treatment of a number of tracer conditions and other measures of impact; and (3) responses to a household survey on attitudes toward health and on satisfaction with care. Preliminary data collected on the first cohorts to complete one and two years of care suggest that (1) utilization of health services for the children, both at the Health Center and at the other sites (including hospitalization, but not emergency room visits, which were lower) are higher for F-care; (2) outcome of care for the children is not significantly different between the groups; and (3) families in the F-care group express greater satisfaction with the care received by their children than do the families in the C-care group.